One Stitch at a Time

Whether we like it or not, when we became betrothed to Jesus and committed to become His bride, we fully entered the battle for spiritual maturity. That is what walking out our salvation is all about. Like the Jewish bride in her betrothal, we are sewing our wedding dress as we work through our sanctification; one stitch at a time. We were sanctified in God’s eyes the moment we gave our heart to Jesus but our journey through this life requires us to allow Him to live His life through us.

We have our inward righteousness because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross, but there is a battle to fight to achieve our outward righteousness, and it continues for our entire life here on earth. But we are not in it alone. During our ketubah—our betrothal—Jesus has given us His pledge to return and the pledge comes with a betrothal gift … the Holy Spirit. He is the One who leads us into a deeper and richer relationship with Jesus as He works off all the rough edges that are keeping us from becoming all that we were created to be.

Time is growing short and the moment of His return is on the horizon. All we need to do is look at what is going on in the world around us and compare it with the Word of God. When is He coming? I don’t know and the Word tells me not to try and figure it out; we need be focused on Him and wait for that “shout from heaven,” calling us to our wedding. All I know is that we are closer today than we were yesterday, and it is critically important for the bride of Christ to rise from her slumber, leave the milk behind and move onto the strong meat of the Word. We cannot become like the Hebrew Christians in Rome.  

Heb 5:12-14 You have been Christians a long time now, and you ought to be teaching others, but instead you have dropped back to the place where you need someone to teach you all over again the very first principles in God’s Word. You are like babies who can drink only milk, not old enough for solid food. And when a person is still living on milk it shows he isn’t very far along in the Christian life, and doesn’t know much about the difference between right and wrong. He is still a baby Christian! You will never be able to eat solid spiritual food and understand the deeper things of God’s Word until you become better Christians and learn right from wrong by practicing doing right. (TLB)

The Holy Spirit is calling us to rise, draw near, and follow Him along the path to spiritual maturity (Rom 8:29). There is a new victorious life here on earth for us if we will but heed His call and submit to His leading. The Spirit-filled life is not only one of peace, love, strength, and empowerment; it is the most exciting life we could ever lead.

Do you want the answers to: Why am I here; There has got to be more to life than this; and What am I supposed to be doing with my life? Then the first step is to “fully” understand who you are, whose you are, discover what you mean to Him, and have your eyes opened to who He truly is. If you are a true believer—the bride of Christ—then you have made a commitment to your bridegroom and, like the Jewish bride, you need to be about making yourself ready for His return. The time is short and there is a hurting world that needs the message of hope and salvation that we hold in our heart. Jesus’ bride needs to wake up and take her role in the kingdom seriously; there are lives hanging in the balance. There is a wedding to prepare for and a dress to be sewn … One Stitch at a Time.